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May 3 two years

Two years ago my husband asked me to marry him. Almost exactly two years before that day, I woke up in the middle of the night unable to get this phrase out of my head: "How lovely it is that God has made you just so, and I have had all the years of my life to come to know you."

Over and over, it's all I could hear. I sat up in bed, opened Evernote in my phone, and started typing away at a poem that would eventually become a part of a wedding ceremony years into the future.

At the time, I felt sure about Blake, but discussions of marriage were far, far ahead. The poem felt almost like a sweet secret between me and the Lord -- and I decided not to share it with Blake until I knew for sure that he was the one it was about (though I had a strong suspicion). I finally read it to him after two years of dating and five months of engagement -- on our wedding day, when we met to have one last quiet moment together before everything began.

Later on as women bustled about me getting ready, curling my hair, and applying make up to my face I texted our pastors: "I know this is last minute, but can you have someone read this at the ceremony?" And sent them the poem.

As one of them read it inside the quiet stone chapel in which we were wed, I gripped Blake's arm tight as tears fell down both of our faces. How faithful God had been to us -- how sweet this story he had written!

When I first heard those words in my head, I thought it was Blake -- and I wanted it to be him. The boy I had met when I was 12, the faithful friend I had known for over 15 years. It was true, then -- he is the boy that I had my whole, young life to come to know-- every detailed part. And it's true now -- I will spend the rest of my life learning the shape of him, the way his thoughts twist and form, savoring his sweet love and the faithfulness of a Creator who thought of it all.

Happy engagement anniversary to us, my love. It has been the greatest joy of my life to know, and be known, by you.

Here is "how lovely it is that god has made you just so," written in the middle of a hot, sweltering New York City night on August 19, 2013.

How lovely it isThat god has made you just soAnd I have had all the years of my lifeTo come to know each detailAnd thoughtfully crafted part

How lovely that he has entrusted me with youHere on earthHowever fleetingTo caretake and to loveyou with the best parts of myself

To see you with eyes he has givenAnd encourage you with his own words spoken from my lipsTo hold lightly in these handsThat which he molded from his ownTo hold youAnd feel how soft your skinTo seeHow light plays across your shouldersTo feelSo intricately & intimatelyHis love[& your love]Given so freelyTo meThrough you, most lovely craft & expressionOf the one who holds us both nearThe author of the orbitthat kept us circling one anotherAs he readied us for yearsTo be ableTo holdOne anotherLike this.